As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a bathing chair for assisting elderly and handicapped persons to enter and leave a bathtub has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,905, “bathing chair positioning system”. The bathing chair taught therein comprises a front frame 21; a rear frame 22; a bearing assembly 3; a seat 4; a handle 5; and fixing devices 6, 6A. The front and rear frame rods 21, 22 are shaped like the inverted letter U, reaching across a bathtub 1 and have horizontal rods 211, 221 which pass over an edge 11 of the bathtub 1 at a distance. A right connecting rod 23A and a left connecting rod 23B connect the front and rear frame rods 21, 22. The seat 4 is a plate of roughly rectangular shape and is mounted on the horizontal rods 211, 221, being movable along the horizontal rods 211, 221. The bearing assembly 3 comprises several gliding blocks which are connected with the seat 4 on a lower side thereof, keeping a distance thereto, and glide along the horizontal rods 211, 221. A backrest 41 is connected to the seat 4 by two L-shaped link rods 42A, 42B. The link rods 42A, 42B constitute an upper seat frame and have horizontal extensions 421A, 421B, which are fastened to the gliding blocks of the bearing assembly 3. Thereby, the seat 4 is enabled to glide along the horizontal rods 211, 221. The handle 5 is a rod which is shaped like the inverted letter U and is fastened to the front and rear frame rods 21, 22 at left ends thereof, reaching higher than the seat 4 for providing a hold when the seat 4 is moved along the horizontal rods 211, 221. The fixing devices 6, 6A are made of plastics or another suitable soft material and are shaped like strips. The fixing devices 6, 6A have fixed ends 61, 61A and holding ends 66, 66A. The fixed ends 61, 61A are fastened to the link rods 42A, 42B of the seat 4, respectively. The holding ends 66, 66A are held on the right and left connecting rods 23A, as needed. At the holding ends 66, 66A, the fixing devices 6, 6A have endpieces 68, 68A from lower sides of which holding elements 67, 67A extend away, respectively. Fastening elements 63, 63A are attached to endpieces 62, 62A at the fixed ends 61, 61A and are in turn fastened to the link rods 42A, 42B to prevent shifting of the fixing devices 6, 6A. Before sitting down on the seat 4, a user pulls up the holding end 66, so that the holding element 67 is held on the right connecting rod 23A. For bathing, the user releases the holding element 67, which subsequently becomes detached from the right connecting rod 23A. The seat 4 is shifted leftward until a leftmost position over the bathtub 1, with the holding element 67A being held on the left connecting rod 23B.
A conventional bathing chair assists elderly and handicapped people to enter and leave a bathtub safely and conveniently. However, turning of the seat 4 is not possible, so that sitting down and getting up from the seat 4 is not convenient.